3 How Did I Get Into This Situation?

We walked slowly, or at least to me it was slow. He walked fast for himself, but the speed seem to ease me slightly. I could remember my vampire life, but was uneasy at the fact he had said 'you aren't suppose to remember.'

At the end of this hall, we turned left into a room. The room was bare. The walls were white, and the floor was made up of tatami mats. There was one cushion to sit on about three paces from the paper sheet wall in front of us, which was illuminated from behind. There was a shadowed figure behind the paper who was sitting and waiting for me.

"You may go," the voice ordered.

I heard the boy, my comrade, step back and close the door behind me. I stepped forward, and sat on the cushion, resisting the urge to bow to them. I was trying to focus on my actions, to ensure that I didn't do something stupid, like bowing when I don't even 'remember' who they are or who I was.

"Do you remember anything child?" the voice asked.

I tried to frame my mind to what it was only moments before, so that I would answer in an appropriate manner. "It depends on your meaning. I remember many things, from many memories, and thus what happened after exiting the pool of blood, but of myself I remember nothing."

He nodded approvingly from behind the paper. "I am Elder Sothe. We saved your life, due to some unfortunate circumstances, you were on the verge of death and the Blood Pool saved you. We were anxious because you had, very special training, which is very difficult to come by, but we are relieved to see that you are well now.

"Very simply, you are a Punisher now. We will supply you with a list of those who live in The City, those who have broken the law, so that you may feed and that they may be punished. The file will show you who you were, in a brief fashion, and your hunt for tonight. Until we feel you have the jest of what you are to do, you will have a mentor, her name is Elizabeth.

"You will also find in that file your new dwelling. It will take time to adjust to this new body and powers, but we assure you that your mentor will help you." Elder Sothe slipped a manila envelop under the paper sheet wall and stood.

"It is also a custom to bow when you enter to speak to us Elders, and to bow when you are dismissed."

With this, I bowed and thanked him. I watched the receding shadow, he turned left and then the shadow simply disappeared. At this moment the door behind me opened, and I turned to see a girl, slightly shorter than I with strawberry blonde hair and small stature stare down at me.

"Grab your list and let's go, you must be hungry," she ordered. She was not as gentle as my comrade had been, but I did not expect her to be either. She was a Punisher like I was.

We left the building and returned to the Blood Pool District (part of the city in which majority of dwellings for citizens were and the Blood Pool at its center). We stopped on a random roof, not too far off from the Blood Pool.

"Let me see your file."

I handed it to her, she opened it pulling the papers almost all the way out and skimmed the contents. I assumed she had seen my name and my hunt list, for she just slid the papers back in and handed it back.

"Let's go," she ordered again and jumped to the next roof.

It was dark, but there were two girls outside by a doorstep. It was supposed to be well past curfew, but being out on your doorstep was considered your dwelling, so they weren't technically breaking any law.

"There, those girls are your target. The file indicates that they broke the biggest law of their kind, drinking from one another," she told me. I peered down closer and saw who she was. I had remembered her from school just a little more than a year ago, and she was very scared and paranoid, too afraid to break any minor rule.

My mind rolled through several scenarios, each being worst than before. I didn't know my capabilities in this new body, nor her capabilities, so I stood at a large disadvantage.

'If you do not want to, there is another way,' I heard a voice say in my head. I knew this wasn't me thinking, and it startled me for a moment. I whipped my head to Elizabeth who was staring at me.

'Tell me, do you want to kill them?' That voice said again, and while I stared at her, she tilted her head towards the girls below.

I shook my head no, startled by the sudden intrusion in my mind.

'Follow me,' she instructed. And so I did. She swooped down quickly knocking both girls out slamming the back of their heads just as they opened their mouths to scream. I grabbed one and swung her over my shoulder, she grabbed the other and began to dart down the shadows of the alleyways. I followed after her, carefully following the exact path she ran ahead of me.

She past the Elder District before making a quick turn left finding the wall, and the following the wall.

The particular wall brought back many memories, my own and those before me. It used to be known as the Great Wall of China. Most of the wall was destroyed during the first Vampire War, however, the city mended this section that suffered only minor damage, and extended parts of it around the rest of the city to shield it from outsiders.

It was still abnormal to me to view another persons memories, it wasn't the same as my own. I shook off the eerie feeling it gave me and focused back to following Elizabeth.

Shortly before entering the Market District she made a sharp turn left through the wall to which I had followed. I remember when I was young with my friends, playing along the walls, and following them to try and find any weakness, peek hole, or break, and us never finding one.

I had thought it impossible that there were holes in the wall of any size, but yet, there was a large one enough to fit two people through.

There were woods which we had quickly entered and traveled for roughly fifteen minutes before arriving to a small clearing with a cabin.

Elizabeth slowed down to a casual walk turning the corner of the cabin to the door. I followed slower than her, noticing multiple people already inside moving about. She waited at the doorway, and then we entered single file.

Once inside, the thirst I had managed to keep at bay overcame me and I was ravenous with hunger. There was no longer just the scent of the one of the small vampire I was carrying, but ten more that were cowering in the corner. I roughly dropped the girl and backed immediately to the other wall.

I felt my fangs elongate, nail grow, and eyes burn as my hunger grew. I had been completely unaware of the others in the cabin other than Elizabeth and the vampires cowering in the corner.

"Grab her before she kills them all! Elizabeth what is the meaning of this!" a girl's voice ordered, her voice sounding like chiming bells, but full of authority that shouldn't be questioned.

Suddenly, there were three Punishers grabbing me to prevent me from attacking the defenseless vampires in the corner. I turned my head to look at everyone in the cabin. It was a small space, to my immediate left was a fridge, and along the wall stood counters filled with scattered parchments, files, and documents. In the further back was a table to seat four.

There sat a girl, much different from any I had seen before. She had golden hair and eyes, pale skin, and looked no older than sixteen. Behind her stood my comrade that had saved me and escorted me to the Elders.

"She didn't want to kill them, she just finished turning. I was excited that she didn't want to kill them, I didn't think--" Elizabeth began but was immediately cut off by my comrade.

"Mother, I gave her her memories. I brought her to the Blood Pool two days ago," the comrade said.

"Tankrell, why did you not consult me first?" the girl asked in irritation, but was obviously more frustrated than angry than she was earlier.

"Nephilim, they said that she was special, surely having her on our side would benefit us," Elizabeth replied from my right.

The cabin door opened again and the breeze of more vampires entered into the cramp cabin increasing my hunger and I fought against the three restraining me. They began to struggle holding me back.

The Punisher turned after dropping the two he had next to the others. "What do we have here? A Newborn?" he asked. He irritated me, but I merely bared my teeth at him. He was tall and built, with short and crispy cut black hair.

"Jarod really, take my place. You'd fare much better than me at restraining her, she is stronger than she looks," a woman's voice said directly behind me. She was trying to restrain me with a lack-luster head lock, and I kept scrapping her with my fangs attempting to gnaw her arm off.

He shrugged nonchalantly and proceeded to switch spots with her. She released her grip too soon for him to get a grab on me causing me the briefest moment in which I escaped their grasp.

However, before I reached the vampires, I was face down on the ground unable to get up.

"You said that she finished changing today?" Nephilim's voice said above me. Her knee was on the small of my back, one hand holding down my wrist, the other on my neck pressing down. I snarled but could not escape her grasp.

I was in utter disbelief that this small little vampire held me down with little effort. And now, I was only two steps away from the cowering vampires, their scent burning my nostrails and throat.

"Yes mother," Tankrell replied. "She must be hungrier than we anticipated, let me give her some blood."

"Are you out of your mind?!" the familiar woman's voice said. She had been the one who held me back trying to switch with the Punisher Jarod.

"Dianna, I don't see much choice, since she'll slaughter those vampires there if she doesn't get any blood," Tankrell replied.

"Dianna is right, she will see everything! She doesn't even know who we are, or if she will join us!" Another male voice said.

"Edward, Dianna, Elizabeth, this is not your choice," Tankrell replied.

There was silence for a moment before I felt a knee dig into my back adjusting.

"There seems to be only two options here Newborn. You can join my coven Nephilese, or you can die," Nephilim said above me.

"Mother--" Tankrell began but immediately stopped.

"What does your coven want?" I asked flexing my fingers in her grasp, causing me to scratch and tear at the wooden floor.

"To take out the Elders," Nephilim answered simply.

Her reply made me laugh hysterically. I was going to die either way it appeared. "I am going to die either way, what makes your cause worth my short extended life?" I asked with a sneer.

"You save their lives, and you live longer than if you choose not to join us."

Logically, it seemed like a fair argument, however I was still attempting to resist her grip in hunger. My need to feed was outweighing my ability to think. I felt like I was parched, worse than when I was actually starving in assassin training.

"Feed her so that she may be still," Nephilim ordered in irritation.

Tankrell extended his arm towards me and I bite down and drank briefly. After a few swallows, I was aware to not kill him, I only needed enough to gain my sanity. A few more sips and I used all my strength to stop. I imagined that if I didn't stop, Nephilim would not hesitate to rip my head off.

"I will join you, if only to save those lives who do not deserve death," I answered and she released me.

She lightly walked back her seat and sat.

"Well, you saw our reasons but don't believe in their value?" she asked.

I tilted my head in confusion...seemed like all these memories from the Blood Pool I gained were giving me a bad habit... "What reasons? I saw nothing." I answered.

Everyone was attempting to speak at once, all the while Nephilim was staring at me and ignoring them. I stared back at her. After a few minutes she looked about the rest of the room.

"She does not lie," Nephilim spoke aloud and to which everyone became quiet in an instant. "You will use Tankrell as your vampire donor, seeing as it won't jeopardize us since you can't see his memories. We do not kill, merely use vampire donors. Elizabeth will guide you in our ways, seeing that it is convenient that she is your mentor in The City. You are to keep us a secret, if you betray us, I will personally hunt you down to kill you." She flicked her head to each person in the room other than me or Tankrell. "All of you need to get back to your duties, we will postpone today's meeting for another two days."

One by one, they left. As they left I finally managed to get a good look at them.

Dianna was slightly taller than me, with a thinner frame, but with long wavy amber colored hair. Edward was a boy no older than eighteen, with slightly longer and straighter hair than Jarod, but it was a paler pink than Elizabeth's hair. Tankrell had short curly dirty blond hair, tall and slim built stature with green eyes.

All of the Punishers had the same eyes, red iris', and pupils feline-shaped that narrowed when irritated.

Tankrell took the seat the Nephilim's right, and I strolled over and took the seat to her left.

"Thank you for joining us," Tankrell said.

I ignored him. He didn't leave me a choice from the start, why did he even bother to thank me? I wanted to rip his bloody head off.